Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Run for Education 5K Recap!

On Saturday, we ran another race - this time, it was the Run for Education 5K, conveniently located in town. One of the women on the race committee works with Jeff, so he wanted to support her and the race, and most of our Renegades signed up as well. This is the fourth year for this race and all proceeds go to their scholarship foundation. They had a record turnout of 171 registrants - there was a nice crowd of runners and families participating.

The race didn't start until 8:00 am, which meant we got to sleep in a bit on a Saturday, yay! It also meant that it would be daylight when we ran, so I chose my black Nike shirt to wear - I love it but almost never get to wear it because I like to be visible when we run in the pre-dawn hours. That turned out to be a bad decision - more on that later.

Some of our group wanted to get in a couple miles before the race, so we drove to the race site while the harvest moon was still bright in the sky:

I waited around with Jimmymeow while Jeff, Brian, Cary, and Karen set off for a two mile run. I actually ate something before the race - a Honey Stinger waffle. I did this before the race last week too and it set well with my stomach...I normally can't eat before I run, but I'm trying some new things this season, and this seems to be working OK.

It was really hot when the race started, and, being 8:00 am, the sun was out and blazing down on us from the cloudless sky. That's when it was pointed out to me that wearing a black shirt might not have been the best choice - oops. Still, I had hopes for a decent race; my runs earlier in the week had both gone really well and I was feeling pretty good.

I'm behind Jeff, next to Diane (in the periwinkle shirt). You can see how sweaty Jeff and Brian are already, thanks to their two mile warm up run.

Diane and I set off running. I figured we'd run the first mile straight through and then start on intervals; we've been running straight through on Mondays, but with this hot sunny day, intervals would probably become necessary. We had a great first mile - considering the feels like temperature was in the high 80s, I'm impressed that we finished it in 12:53. We started our intervals at that point and passed by the aid station - we were carrying our water bottles since it wasn't clear if there would be an aid station during the race, so we didn't need to stop on our way out.

We hit the turnaround point and it was really hot. We were running right into the sun, ugh. I was struggling more than I thought I would be, considering I'd run three miles just a couple of days before, but then again, I wasn't running when the sun was out. We hit the aid station and were offered Gatorade; Diane asked for water to pour down the back of her neck but they were out. Later on we heard that they were handing out bottles of water to the runners in the beginning and that's why the water disappeared so quickly - hey, middle school cheerleaders were (wo)manning the station, so I can't fault them for not knowing to pour the water into cups.

Anyway, we kept running - mile two came in at 14:36. Have I mentioned how hot it was? It was brutal - sweat was just pouring down my face, which felt like it was on fire. We took a couple of extra walking breaks, and then we were running again when suddenly my ears started ringing and I got that "echo-y" feeling - like the world around me was far away, if that makes sense. I told Diane I needed to walk and tried to get her to go ahead with the race, but she wouldn't leave me. Which, in hindsight, was probably a good thing as I was not feeling great at that point and it was nice to have a friend with me. This was at the 2.6 mile mark; ack, so close! I figured I could walk the rest of the way in, so that's what we did, until we made the turn toward the finish line - then we gently ran in:

I like our synchronized strides in this shot!

Finished, whew!

Last mile was 17:07; our total time was 46:04. This race was so much harder than the Burning Pine 5K that we did the week before, even with the steep hills there. A half hour later start, plus hotter temperatures just did me in (and wearing that black shirt didn't help, I'm sure). We got water, Diane brought out her folding chair for me to sit in, and then she got me a towel full of ice from the water cooler, which helped tremendously. After a while we halfheartedly attempted a group picture:

Motley crew - we were all pretty beat by this race.

Sitting in the shade of a car; Jeff was soaked through with sweat!

Brian was with the first pack of runners so we thought he might win an age group award; we stuck around and listened as they called out the winners. They were doing them in five-year increments, but suddenly they moved to twenty-year increments! So Brian was in the 40-to-59 group, same as Jeff, which was kind of crazy. Anyway, Brian won second place - two weeks in a row on the podium! He's gonna be disappointed when he
does our regular run this Saturday and there's no podium afterward. :

Crossfit boxes served as the podium, but I didn't see any of the winners do a box jump to get on them...that would have been funny.

We headed over to Blue Baker and after a while sitting there in the air conditioning, I finally felt normal again. Even though I'm used to running in heat and high humidity, adding sun meant a whole different experience. Hopefully the next time we race, the temps will be cooler!

So, I'm looking at the photos and my first thought was "she's overdressed to run in the sun." I don't think it would even matter what color your shirt was, unless you were wearing a tank and shorts that was gonna be hot - and probably even then. But you finished, so yay for that!! Nothing worse than being overheated.

The last couple of mornings it has been 70-ish with 95-100% humidity and 70 dewpoints. I'm running at o'dark thirty and I look like I've been running through sprinklers by the time I get home. If it was sunny, I might have to run naked ;)

Oh man, as soon as I read about you wearing black I was like WHY?!!?!?!?!? It just absorbs the sun! Blah, you poor thing :( I am not surprised the sun affected you like this, black shirt or not! When Gina was visiting from Dallas she struggled running in the sun too since she gets up so early to run in the dark there cause of the heat. Blah. I am wishing cool temps for you guys ASAP!!!!!

I am happy the AC made you feel better! I have had the ringing and odd feeling in my ears before during a run and it's scary!

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